When
that special time they were waiting for arrived, namely, the night time,
they made all those who were going to retire early go and close their compound
gates, so that no one would come to their houses that night, since some
folks were disgruntled. When they thought that everyone had gone home to
sleep, they told their brother, Nwabueze, to follow the main road that
ran through the middle of our town up to the end of the town. He did this
and returned quickly. They asked, "Did you see anything or hear anything?"
He told them, "I didn't hear a sound, nor did I see anyone; not even a
lizard's cry did I hear, except that Ibe Ofo was shouting. (This Ibe Ofo
was a madman who had been put in jail and restrained hand and foot.)

After
he told them these things, they went and opened their compound gates. They
then talked about how they would carry their small children. When they
finished this, they all proceeded to go out in front of the house that
we call the obi, the place where Omenuko lived, because it had been
their father's house.

Then
they started out for the town of Ndi Mgborogwu, and while they were crossing
our town they did not meet a single man or woman on the road. When they
began their journey, the sky was very dark. Afterward, a heavy rain fell
that night. From our town they had traveled more than seven miles to the
place where it began to rain.

When
day dawned, the children, who were not their own but those living in the
houses of Omenuko's extended family, awoke from sleep and looked all over,
but they could not see anyone--only the abandoned, empty houses. They started
to cry. The neighbors heard their cries and came to find out what had happened
to them. There was nobody in their houses except the crying children. They
came in and asked the children, "Where are your masters?" They told those
who had entered that they did not know where they had gone.

The
people went in and ran all around the compound and the houses, but did
not see anyone. They cried out, "Come and see with us what has happened
here!" The shouts reached the ears of many people. They came running, and
saw that Omenuko and his brothers had run away. Some youths were then selected
to find out which road they had taken. When the youths returned in the
afternoon and reported that they had heard gunshots in Ndi Mgborogwu, our
people decided to send out some others and told them, "Go and find
out if it is Ndi Mgborogwu that they have run to." The messengers
went and discovered that it was to Ndi Mgborogwu that they had escaped,
to the house of a chief there called Mgborogwu. The chief and the people
of his village were rejoicing and shooting their guns. The chief was delighted
because Omenuko and his brothers were numerous, and also appeared to be
good people.

Omenuko
had three wives. Two of them had each borne him one son and one daughter.
Okorafo had two wives and one of them had borne him a son. Nwabueze had
a wife, but she was still a young girl. Their younger brother and their
two sisters and their mother had come with Omenuko. Since there were so
many of them, the chief was very happy.

Those
who had been sent out returned the next day and reported to our people
what had happened, that it was to the house of the chief, Mgborogwu, that
they had gone. Then there was commotion everywhere. Our villagers from
that time on began to wonder about the people whom Omenuko had led to the
Bende market--those who were learning the market trade from him and his
load-bearers, some of whom he had sold. Our people then selected several
strong men to go and make inquiries about the people he had led to the
market. But some of his load-bearers who had returned with him from Bende
market told them what they knew about those people he had left in Bende.
They said that when they were preparing to return, Omenuko had told those
people that they should wait for other travelers, and that Mr. Oji was
going to give them things to carry back.

But
these reports of some of the load-bearers did not stop the people who had
been selected from going to see about the situation of those he had left
in Bende. After four days had passed, a message came back from those who
had been sent out to Bende. They reported that Mr. Oji said that Omenuko
had sold all of those people to them.

When
the people of our land heard the news that Omenuko had sold his young
apprentices and his load-bearers, some of them were dumbstruck, and some
were like mourners unable to cry on account of what had happened to their
children. The cries in our town on that day and the cries heard in the
homes of Omenuko's relatives on the day they escaped to Ndi Mgborogwu were
very great. The tears that ran from the people's eyes for two days seemed
enough to form a small river. The parents of those who were sold cried,
but crying would not bring them back again. Omenuko had left our land and
gone to another one to stay as a guest. His relaives continued to
cry, but crying could not bring him back. Omenuko did not want to go on
living after the things he had done to people. Rather, what he wanted was
death, but his brothers did not allow it, because the method of dying that
he chose did not please his brothers, as it would have been a case in which
"the broom that swept the compound swept the house." This was something
that could cause a man and his entire family to be wiped out. So they decided
to run away and they fled to Ndi Mgborogwu. If Omenuko had known
that he would still be alive up until that day, he would not have sold
those people. He was constantly thinking about what he had done. His conscience
bothered him greatly, and even though Omenuko was no longer in our town,
his heart could not rest and he had no peace of mind on account of what
he had done.